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Historical Essay 



The Napoleonic Era and Its Lessons 



Read at the 

International Historical Congress 

Held at 

Zaragoza, Spain, October 14, 1908 

To Celebrate the Centenary of Spanish Independence 
from Napoleon I 



BY 
JAMBS THE GRy«MB ARBUCKLB 



N. 



Historical Essay 



The Napoleonic Era and Its Lessons 



Read at the 

International Historical Congress 

Held at 

Zaragoza, Spain, ffctober 14, 1908 

To Celebrate the Centenary of Spanish Independence 
from Napoleon I 



BY 
JAMES THE GRyEME ARBUCKLE 



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PREFACE AND INSCRIPTION 




N INSCRIBING this essay to my countryman, Honorable Andrew 
Carnegie, it is with especial pride that I do so, in that he has cast lustre 
on our country by his many and great benefactions. One can hardly 
realize that so much could be achieved in one short life. And to 
illustrate his simple, unaffected manner, I will tell this story about 
this illustrious man. 

I was invited as a delegate from St. Louis to his first great Peace Con- 
gress, at New York, and after the first session he was receiving the congratula- 
tions 'of some distinguished people, foreign and local, for the successful opening. 
Mrs. Arbuckle and I were on the platform and were about the last to be received 
by him. I had known him but my wife had never m.et him, and when I introduced 
her to him he smiled and said the first man that gave him a job in Pittsburgh was 
a man of her husband's name— James Arbuckle— and asked her what did she think 
he first received from him in wages. I remarked that, judging from results later, 
he must have been a very smart boy and probably received an enormous salary. 
He stated that he had been paid by Mr. Arbuckle the large sum of $1.25 per week! 
This was subsequently corroborated by Mr. Arbuckle's son, John Arbuckle— 
"The Coffee King"— to whom the author was related and who had the honor 
of knowing him. 

For his grand work in the cause of International Peace and Arbitration 
his name will go down in History 

Truly one of the mightiest oaks of the forest started from a small acorn. 



7— 



INTRODUCTION 




N THE early part of 1908 I was invited by the Committee of Pro- 
fessors of the Zaragoza University to deliver an address before the 
Great International Historical Congress that was to be held there 
in October of that year to celebrate the Centenary of Spanish Inde- 
pendence from Napoleon I. 

I accepted and wrote a historical essay, which was delivered at the great 
meeting of assembled Savants, Scientists and Historians from all parts of the 
world. It was received with applause and appreciation, and the Committee, 
composed of Messrs. Eduardo Ibarra y Rodriguez and Alvaro de San Pio, who 
passed upon the papers read before the Congress, recommended to his Majesty, 
the King of Spain, that I should be decorated for it, and which was accordingly 
done, and a certificate of same was duly received by me signed by the great 
statesman Maurer, along with the Medal bearing the impress of General Palafox, 
the Washington of the struggle for Spanish Independence. On the other side of 
the Medal was an allegorical figure of Spain. 

The Medal was suspended from a silk ribbon, colors of blood and gold, 
and attached to a gold clasp. It is needless to say that the decoration was prized 
by me most highly, and I take pleasure in wearing it on state occasions. 

Having two grandfathers who campaigned under Wellington, I had 
always been interested in that era, one of whom — James The Graeme Arbuckle 
of Rutherglen, Scotland — used to "fight his battles" under the great Duke over 
again, at father's house, whilst I stood gaping with astonishment and admiration 
at his wonderful war stories to his cronies. I subsequently read much of that 
era — Victor Hugo, Allison, Scott and other great writers, with their eloquent 
recitals of those stirring events. 

He was especially fond of recounting the charge of the Scots' Greys at 
Waterloo, and where he distinguished himself and secured a medal for his 
bravery. 



It may not be amiss to put on record his version of the great battle that 
decided so much for Europe. Wellington had been pursuing a Fabian policy, 
leceiving Napoleon's charges of cavalry and infantry until he had worn the 
brave Frenchmen out. 

Late in the afternoon they received the commands of Wellington. The 
brigade which charged was composed of the Welsh Lancers, Inneskillen 
Dragoons, and the Scots' Greys. Three crack regiments — no man under six 
feet tall. 

They hewed their way through the old guard and got within 300 yards 
of Napoleon, when his marshals tore him from the field. This charge was the 
deciding event of the terrible day, and rendered Wellington still more illustrious, 
and made his antagonist, the great Corscian, a ruined wanderer, that ended in 
his surrender to the English and his subsequent exile to the lonely Island of 
St. Helena. 

My maternal grandfather was in the Highland Brigade, campaigned under 
Wellington through the Peninsular War. He did some feats of unusual bravery 
at the battle of Salamanca, for which Wellington decorated him. He subse- 
quently went with the Highland Brigade to Egypt, under Sir Ralph Abercrombie, 
and was killed in battle. His sorrowing widow never saw her handsome soldier 
husband again, and the dear old lady mourned for him many years as she 
hummed some plaintive old song at her spinning wheel, and she loved to have 
me come and stay with her as a child, to comfort her in her loneliness. 

The interest that I had in those times was therefore natural, and the 
reason I choose this subject was apropo and agreeable to me, and seemed to 
please the great International Historical Congress that met at Zaragoza in 
October, 1908. 



9— 



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GUCPRA DE LA iNDl:Pl:ND!:NCIA 

'^^^^^^^^ Zaragosa ^ deT^J.^^s^^^s*? de 1908. 

Opicinas: ^/ffi-ffl rfe jfragrSn, niiu]. 7 

COMlSlON OP.GANIZADORA ^- ^- <S:^^- C3'&^*»?-3^<s 



■ sj®-— 

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Muy Sr. laio y dS mi consideraci6ii nais distingnida: pr6simo 
a aer publioado ©1 n^ del Boletin del OtsagreBo Hist6rico InteraaolA ; 
sal de Is Guerra de" la IndepondonGia y su ^poca le ruego qiie, ei coao 

es ds oaperar de su ilustraSifin y entnsiaaao clentlfico y p5srl6tiGO, 
^ do traar al Coagreso algtia trabajoelentlfico, bs anvio ouanto antes 
eas posibls el tliralo del misrao, 6 fin da darld &. oonocer d los deofls 
Sras. Congresistes. 

Igualmante le ruegoque lao snvle cuantas propoBicioaes juzguo eon- 
renientes para la mojor organlzaciSn del Congreso, d fia diS sometarlas 
^ la Junta Organlzadora y dar cuenta de ellas en ol pr63:iino niSmero del 
Bolotin. 

Dtaidola laa gracias anticipadas qusda miyo affmo. emlgto y s.a. 
q.l."b.l,m. 
El Prosidanta do la CoEiisl6n organizadora 




— 10 



LECACION OE ESPANA 

WASHINGTON. 29th. MaTch, 1909 



Hon.Jame8 Arbviokle, 

Vice-consul for Spain, 

S t . L o U i s ,M p . 

Siri- 

I am in receipt of your favour of the 24th. instant, 
informing me that you have been awarded by the Spanish XJo'^eritti^nt 
a diploma' and medal in recognition of your literary conlrl- 
bution to the International Historical Congress of Zaragoza, 
land I-Jiasten to congratulate you 6n this high end well 
deserved- mark of distinction. 

Regarding the medal,! am writing 
^under this date to -the proper department, making the necessary 
Inquiries, and as soon as I receive an answer, it will give me 
pleastire to transmit It to you. 

I am, Sir., 

Tours v-ery truly, 




(Hpister of Spain. 



11— 



tO^aBSOniSTORICOINT£0^f;^^^^ 



GUERRA DE LA INDEPENDENCIA 

Y SU fiPOCA (1807- 1815) 

ZARAGOZA ^ clc Mn{ Jf Ifel 
Oficinas; Independekcia, 32, 2.° iZQDA. 

COMlSldN EJBOCTJVA I ^ , / / /I 



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-12 




JAMES THE GRv^ME ARBUCKLE 

Decorated by H. M. the King of Spain with the Medal of Zaragoza, 1908. 

Created by H. M. Knight of the Royal Order of Izabella the Catholic, 1910. 

Presented with Medal of Honor by the St. Louis World's Fair, 1904. 




CHAPTER I. 
THE CONDITION OF EUROPE IN THE XVIII CENTURY. 

UROPE with its feudalism had witnessed some fearful tragedies in 
the efforts of the French people to throw off the yoke of absolutism 
and autocracy in the days of Louis XVI. 

The "Rights of Man/' as depicted by Voltaire and Rousseau, 
had captivated the thought and imagination of the leaders of the 
French revolution. 

The tyranny of rulers and the apathetic policy of the Church seemed to 
keep the common masses of the people of continental Europe in utter bondage 
and ignorance. The only countries wherein the common people were making 
progress in education and material conditions were those of Northern Europe, 
Great Britain, one or two of the Scandinavian Nations, Holland and Prussia 
to a certain extent under the enlightening influences which the Protestant Re- 
formation had given. 

The great wealth that Spain had received from her American colonies 
went into the Royal coffers, but had not, to any extent, been of advantage to 
the people in general. 

Her sons who had gone out to the New World had doubtless been bene- 
fited by the exchange and become enlightened by the transatlantic discoveries 
and experiences. 

ITALY and her various sovereigns and people were in comparative dark- 
ness and poverty. 

AUSTRIA, the great germanic power as she then was, had made some 
efforts for the education and elevation of her people. 

Joseph II of Austria seemed desirous to follow the example of Frederick 
of Prussia as a reformer and military hero. His various schemes of reform, 
as well as his personal merits had given him some reputation, at the same time 
they resulted in no lasting good, and his measures taken for the suppression 
of the religious orders and appropriation of their revenues for the State was 
unprincipled and unjust, and only served to render the latter part of his reign 
unsatisfactory, and under the change to the reactionary influences of the 
Church his people lost the opportunities of advancement which they at one 
time possessed. 

RUSSIA, who had gained much in her last struggle with the Turks, 
seemed disposed to let European questions alone, and she was chiefly occupied 
in increasing her boundaries from the barbarous neighbors on her eastern and 
southern lines. 

15— 



Her people had no opportunity of ever considering the question of 
representative government, and she remains a strictly autocratic country and 
her people a nation of ignorant serfs. 

GREAT BRITAIN, who had made peace at Versailles after the long 
and exhaustive v^ar vv^ith her American Colonies and with France and Spain, 
her commerce and finances disorganized and general depression of business, 
was disposed for permanent peace, to give her commerce a chance to regain its 
pre-eminence throughout the world. 

PRUSSIA, who had gained much prestige and territory under the great 
Frederick, required time to consolidate the many detached portions of his king- 
dom so recently acquired. He was philosopher enough to see also the signs of 
the times, in the general desire of the common people of Europe for freedom 
and constitutional government. 

The success of the American Colonies had given a formidable impetus to 
republican principles and were having a powerful influence in shaping the 
thought of Continental Europe. 

SPAIN was equally exhausted in the struggle with England as an ally 
of France. The great expense which she was put to try and regain the Pillar 
of Hercules — Gibralter — and its unsuccessful result, discouraged her statesmen to 
make any further effort at the time. The Bourbon relationship between the two 
royal families of France and Spain had much to do with this alliance and the 
great sacrifices which she made in this struggle. 

FRANCE, who had made war on England, and in aid of the American 
Colonies, exhausted her finances in the effort, and this did more than any one 
circumstance in producing about the revolution. 

Her army came back proud of their achievements in America, in helping 
to establish the Republic of the United States and dissolve the bonds from their 
mother country — Great Britain. 

Military glory had always been the French nation's pride, and whilst it 
gratified its people, it added still more to the financial difficulties in which the 
nation was enmeshed, and which all of Necker's genius for finances could 
not unravel and correct. 

The fact that the army were freeing a people who were to be thereafter 
self-governed awoke new ideas and thoughts of freedom which afterwards burst 
into flame in the contending factions of Jacobins and Girondists. 

The Nobility of France had long been under the degenerating effects 
of idleness and luxury. They enjoyed the immunities of the State from taxation 
and other privileges which the citizens generally regarded as unjust, and as 
taxation had grown to a ruinous rate, the views of the French nation underwent 
a most radical change. 

The many efforts of regeneration, aided as they were by a Prince dis- 
tinguished for amability and sagacity but sadly lacking in boldness, seemed only 
to arise to fail in the execution. 



—16 




CHAPTER II. 
CONDITION OF THE CHURCH. 

I HE CONDITION of the Church at that period was equally involved 
in the general desintegration of the Throne and nobility and loyalty 
of the people. 

It had not kept pace with the progress and enlargement of the 
human understanding, but it had grown old and permitted the cob- 
webs of superstition to interlace its doctrines and formula. 

Many of the chief clergy had even ceased to take a vital interest in their 
profession. 

As a distinguished historian said— 

"The Catholic Church had grown old, and unfortunately did not possess 
the means of renovating her doctrines or improving her constitution so as to 
keep pace with the enlargement of the human understanding. The lofty claims 
to infallibility which she had set up and maintained during the Middle Ages, 
claims which she could neither renounce nor modify, now threatened in more 
enlightened times, like battlements too heavy for the foundation, to be the 
means of ruining the edifice they were designed to defend. 

"Vestigia nulla retrorsttm continued to be the motto of the Church of 
Rome. She could explain nothing, soften nothing, renounce nothing, consistently 
with her assertions of impeccability. The whole thrash, which had been ac- 
cumulated for ages of darkness and ignorance, whether consisting of extravagant 
pretensions, incredible assertions, absurd doctrines, which confounded the under- 
standing, or puerile ceremonies, which revolted the taste, were alike incapable 
of being explained away or abandoned. It would certainly have been (humanely 
speaking) advantageous, alike for the Church of Rome and for Christianity in 
general, that the former had possessed the means of relinquishing her extravagant 
claims, modifying her obnoxious doctrines, and retrenching her superstitious 
ceremonial, as increasing knowledge showed the injustice of the one and the 
absurdity of the other. But this power she dared not assume; and hence, per- 
haps, the great schism which divides the Christian world, which might other- 
wise never have existed, or at least not in its present extended and embittered 
state. But, in all events, the Church of Rome, retaining the spiritual empire over 
so large and fair portion of the Christian world, would not have been reduced 
to the alternative of either defending propositions which, in the eyes of all 
enlightened men, are altogether untenable, or of beholding the most essential 
and vital doctrines of Christianity confounded with them, and the whole system 
exposed to the scorn of the infidel. The more enlightened and better informed 
part of the French nation had fallen very generally into the latter extreme. 

"Infidelity, in attacking the absurd claims and extravagant doctrines of the 
Church of Rome, had artfully availed herself of those abuses, as if they had 
been really a part of the Christian religion; and they whose credulity could not 
digest the grossest articles of the papist creed, thought themselves entitled to 
conclude, in general, against religion itself, from the abuses engrafled upon it 

17— 



by ignorance and priestcraft. The same circumstances which favored the as- 
sault tended to weaken the defense. Embarrassed by the necessity of defending 
the mass of human inventions with which their Church had obscured and de- 
formed Christianity, the Catholic clergy were not the best advocates even in the 
best of causes; and though there were many brilliant exceptions, yet it must 
be owned that a great part of the higher orders of the priesthood gave them- 
selves little trouble about maintaining the doctrines or extending the influence of 
the Church, considering it only in the light of an asylum, where, under the con- 
dition of certain renunciations, they enjoyed, in indolent tranquility, a state of 
ease and luxury. 

"Those who thought on the subject more deeply were contented quietly 
to repose the safety of the Church upon the restrictions on the press, which 
prevented the possibility of free discussion. The usual effect followed; and 
many who, if manly and open debate upon theological subjects had been allowed, 
would doubtless have been enabled to winnow the wheat from the chaff, were, 
in the state of darkness to which they were reduced, led to reject Christianity 
itself, along with the corruptions of the Romish Church, and to become absolute 
infidels instead of reformed Christians. 

"Religion cannot exist where immiorality generally prevails, any more than 
a light can burn where the air is corrupted; and accordingly, infidelity was so 
general in France as to predominate in almost every rank of society. The errors 
of the Church of Rome, as we have already noticed, connected as they are 
with her ambitious attempts tow^ards dominion over men, in their temporal as 
v/ell as spiritual capacity, had long become the argument of the philosopher and 
the jest of the satirist, but in exploding these pretentions and holding them up 
to ridicule, the philosophers of the age involved with them the general doctrines 
of Christianity itself ; nay, some went so far as not only to deny inspiration, but 
to extinguish, by their sophistry, the lights of natural religion, implanted in our 
bosoms as a part of our birthright. Like the disorderly rabble at the time of 
the reformation (but with infinitely deeper guilt) they not only pulled down 
the symbols of idolatry, which ignorance or priestcraft had introduced into the 
Christian Church, but sacrilegiously defaced and desecrated the altar itself. This 
work the philosophers, as they termed themselves, carried on with such an un- 
limited and eager zeal as plainly to show that infidelity, as well as divinity, hath 
its fanaticism. An envenomed fur}^ against religion and all its doctrines; a 
promptitude to avail themselves of every circumstance by which Christianity 
could be misrepresented; an ingenuity in mixing up their opinions in works, 
which seemed the least fitting to involve discussions; above all, a pertinacity in 
slandering, ridiculing and vilifying all who ventured to oppose their principles, 
distinguished the correspondents in this celebrated conspiracy against a religion 
which, however it may be defaced by human inventions, breathes only that peace 
on earth and good will to the children of men, which was proclaimed by Heaven 
at its divine origin." 

Infidelity had become therefore rampant in France and this loss of con- 
fidence and respect for the Church hurried the general dissolution of royalty and 
the subsequent horrors of the revolution. The Church had always been one of 
the ramparts of the Throne, but it had ceased to have its influence with the people. 



PUBLIC MORALS. 

Public morals which in the previous reign, illustrated by the Prince of 
Orleans and his minions, was at a low ebb. The literature of France was steeped 
in vice. Even her great philosophers, to which she can always point with pride, 
Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot and Montesquieu, were not without their faults in 
this respect. 

So much license abounded in society, in conversation and manners that 
it was sure to lead directly to feelings the most inconsistent with manly virtue 
and patriotism. 

With the dissolution of old established conditions there came the period 
of internal strife and utter confusion amongst parties and leaders. Until the 
Directory took hold of the helm of State and organizing the army into an 
offensive condition, it gradually was bringing order out of chaos. 

The French people seemed to be proud of having overthrown the old 
condition of things and had freed themselves into a republic. Her statesmen 
and press sent out invitations and appeals to the citizens of the surrounding 
nations to imitate the example of the French republic, and throw off the shackles 
of their old institutions, throw over their kings and nobility, confiscate the prop- 
erty of the Church and have it divided amongst the masses of the people and let 
the lower orders be regenerated into a free and enlightened people. 

In this propaganda they doubtless had produced more or less effect, as 
the autocratic Governments felt called upon to ally themselves against the re- 
public. 




CHAPTER III. 
NAPOLEON'S ERA COMMENCES. 

T THIS period Napoleon appears upon the stage and showed his 
precocious genius in the siege of Toulon and in quelling the lawless 
mobs in the streets of Paris. Circumstances and conditions all 
seemed to favor the young Commander, and fortune seemed to at- 
tend him at every step. Even his setbacks and defeats in Corsica and 
Egypt did not seem to place him at a disadvantage in France. He was always 
ready with some new specious project that appealed to the fancy of a people who 
were always impressed with every new move for military renoun. 

HIS GENIUS FOR CIVIC ORGANIZATION. 

With all that can be said of Napoleon's overambition, he did much for 
the civic improvement of the French people in instituting an elaborate system 
of education. He went into the minutest details to give to the people something 
that has been a lasting benefit to the French nation and reflects credit on his 
acumen, intelligence and foresight. He had the discernment to employ the best 
and most talented Chiefs as educators, who gave and organized a school and 
college system that was surpassed only by Prussia. 

19— 



In like manner he had the whole legislative proceeding and laws supervised, 
changed and perfected so that the "Code Napoleon" stands to this day as one 
of the greatest examples of legal lore and perfection of judicial statements, 
which some other nations have adopted. 

All these civic reforms and achievements went forward co-ordinate with 
his military and state plans in changing the map of Europe. France looked upon 
other neighboring nations with a certain amount of pity and contempt, in not 
freeing themselves from the old order of things into the new state of liberty 
and democracy. 

HIS GREATNESS AS A SOLDIER 

In no period of the v/orld's history were such momentous events in war 
and diplomacy comprised as that embraced in the Napoleonic era. 

Here was a soldier whose genius for war and diplomacy surpassed all 
of the great warriors of ancient, mediaeval or modern times. Alexander the 
Great, Hannibal, Caesar, Charlemagne, or any of the leaders of subsequent his- 
tory, whilst deserving of mention with this great soldier, could not be compared 
to this surpassing master of the art of war. Nor was he equally less in the 
great game of diplomacy and statesmanship. 

Had he restrained his ambition and refrained from keeping Europe in 
a constant ferment, refrained from invading Russia, the terrible disasters of 
that retreat, the humiliation of Leipsig and the crushing and all-vanquishing 
blow of Waterloo might have been spared and the lonely prisoner of St. Helena 
might have had a different fate. 

Europe at one period had been the battlefield of the Romans, but Italy now 
at this period was the battlefield of Europe. The Hapsburgs and Bourbons 
each contending for supremacy and such a constant and unending struggle which 
brought the people into a state of wretchedness and weakness. 



CHAPTER IV. 

HIS ITALIAN CAMPAIGN. 

HE FRENCH Directory and Legislature, animated by a spirit and de- 
sire to raise the people from the contemplations and reflections on 
the horrors of the revolution, entered upon the war to liberate Italy. 
The brilliant young officer who had acted so gallantly and 
efficiently at Toulon and in quelling the crisis with the royalists in the 
streets of Paris, vv^as chosen as the chief of the army, and which brought 
Napoleon and the French arms so much glory. 

—20 




The cause of Italy appealed to him on racial grounds, and as he prophet- 
ically expressed in his memoirs of St. Helena, "Italy, isolated within its natural 
limits, separated by the sea and by very high mountains from the rest of 
Europe, seems called to be a great and powerful nation. 

"Unity in manners, language, literature, ought finally, in a future more 
or less remote, to unite its inhabitants under a single government. Rome is, 
beyond doubt, the Capital which the Italians will one day choose." 

As one of the greatest organizers of the world, this prophesy seems 
singularly correct on the part of Napoleon, and no doubt he awakened those 
people from their condition of torpor and sleep in which they had lain for 
centuries. The fact that Italy now shows a rejuvenation and vigor as a united 
country is no doubt largely attributable to the energetic impetus that he gave 
to their cause. 

His address to the Italian people during that campaign, breathing the 
spirit of unselfish good for their liberation and freedom, the tyranny of their 
rulers, done much towards the success of French arms in that brilliant series of 
victories. 

The adulations which he received for his personal bravery manifested at 
the bridge of Lodi and other critical occasions was already having the effect of 
unduly exciting his ambition, and the sordid greed and nature of French de- 
mands on conquered territory impaired the value of the noble resolves with which 
he had started out to free Italy, and as expressed in his announcement to the 
Italian people. Much of this was doubtless due to the importunate demands of 
the French Directory at Paris, who desired to control as much as possible the 
course of the war, as well as the terms of peace and settlements. 

Napoleon's nature, however, could not long brook delay and control to 
await advices from Paris, and he began to make terms and settlements in his 
rapid victorious career, which the Government seemed to gradually adopt as 
ratisfactory, although his dispatches were made to the Directors in rather an 
imperious and autocratic style, indicating that he was master of the situation. 

The marvelous genius which Napoleon developed in the Italian campaign 
at once lifted him to the rank of the Captain of any age. His initiative recog- 
nition of ability in his Generals and their appreciation by him in their rewards 
for success and rapid advancement in rank, and with the avowed determination 
of the army and people of France, that as they had been made by the revolution 
a nation of freemen, they were inspired to free the peoples outside of their 
frontiers, hence the wonderful bravery evinced throughout the entire campaign, 
although enduring from time to time the greatest hardships. 

Napoleon not only displayed the most marked ability as a warrior of 
the first order, but he evinced unexcelled genius as a politician and diplomat, 
and his successes in that line were quite as marked as on the battlefield. 



21- 




CHAPTER V. 

HIS EGYPTIAN CAMPAIGN. 

^^TS DESIRE to control the Mediterrannean and the Levant, with Egypt 
as a way to India, had taken hold of his imagination, and was quite 
in harmony with the ideas of the Directory and Legislature, As 
an admirer of Caesar and Alexander the Great, he seemed to be 
particularly desirous to push his victories in that direction, but the 
British would not permit him, and he returned from Egypt, disappointing his 
friends as well as himself, so that his dreams of a great Oriental Empire, with 
the tricolor of France floating from minarets of Cairo and Hindostan, was for 
the time being at least put in the background. 

FRANCE had lost her prestige entirely in India, and to fail to restore 
her pre-eminence there was a very serious disappointment to his plans. One of 
the remarkable features in his volcanic career is, that neither the total destruction 
of the French fleet by Lord Nelson at Aboukir, nor any other reverse in Egypt 
and elsewhere seemed to lessen the enthusiasm which greeted him on all occasions 
by the French people, and the same was true of him with the Italians. 

HIS FREEBOOTING. 

Such confidence did all this inspire in him, that his interventions m the 
affairs of Italy, Holland, Switzerland and Spain gave him the airs of a universal 
dictator, never forgetting at any time laying the most extravagant claims for 
"prestamos" and blackmail, in which the arch conspirator, Talleyrand, was a 
past master, and to whom he was greatly indebted in this line of wholesale 
robbery. 

For favors granted to the son-in-law of Charles IV of Spain, in being 
raised to the dignity of King of Asturias, he secured the territory of Louisiana. 
His part of the contract — Parma and its dependencies— became afterwards part 
of the French Republic, in violation of all good faith. 

We will not follow him in all his unscrupulous encroachments on the 
rights and possessions of other nations, as the limits of this paper will not permit, 
and we will now confine our review somewhat to his movements and policies in 
Spain as being more germain for our consideration in this Congress. 

To meet the extraordinary expenses which his European wars had 
involved him in, he exacted a colossal tribute from Spain under a threat of 
sending 80,000 French troops into her country — 72 million francs were to be 
paid into the French exchequer every year by the Government of Spain. Why 
Spain yielded to such unrighteous demands is one of the incomprehensible 
questions of an extraordinary period. Better had she have resisted at once 
and organized her army than temporarized with the tyrant and lose her national 
pride, and pay dearly for the affront and v^^rong besides. 

The agreement was most unfortunate, as it led to the alliance against 
England, and the signal defeat of Trafalgar. Had Spain, instead of complying 
with the unconceivable demands of Napoleon, proposed an alliance with Great 

—22 



Britain, which at that period would have been most acceptable, a different story 
might have been told, and the mortification of a proud people to the French 
occupation been prevented. 

The French alliance, as revealed in the treaty of St. Ildefonso, was 
marked by the most degrading stipulations, and to a proud and sensitive people 
must have been most galling to many of her statesmen. Spain was required to 
furnish troops, ships and subsidies for the war against England. She had simply 
put herself in a vassalage to France, where she would have none of the honors 
of victory or the gain of territory. 

The deceptive manner in Vv^hich Napoleon, on a specious pretext of 
dividing up Portugal with Godoy, sent an army under Junot through Spain to 
take possession and where they were helped by a Spanish Corps, shows that he 
had ulterior intentions on Spain itself, and soon division after division was sent 
into Spain on the pretext to keep the communications open. 

By one pretext and another, he got possession of the northern tier of 
fortresses, even to Barcelona. The artifices he resorted to were mastrful. 

To what a condition of insane inanition had the Court of Madrid come 
to! The whole scheme at last became apparent that he desired to install his 
elder brother on the throne of Spain. 

With 70,000 of his best troops in the Iberian peninsula at strategetical 
points, he felt that he had the country in his possession, and sent his brother- 
in-law, Murat, to command the troops. 

What occurred at Bayonne in transferring the Crown of Spain and the 
Indies to Napoleon reads like opera bouffe. The weakness of the Spanish 
monarch, the treacherous conduct all through this shameful episode, reflects 
nothing but dishonor on Napoleon's methods. His own confession nearing the 
end of his life: 

"I embarked very badly on the Spanish affair, I confess; the immorality 
was too patent, the injustice too cynical, and the whole thing wears an ugly 
look since I have fallen; for the attempt is only seen in its hideous nakedness, 
deprived of all majesty and of the many benefits which completed my intention." 

With Napoleon's conquests, there was something to say in extenuation 
of his work. He invariably inaugurated reforms after his various conquests, and 
it is said that this course he desired to follow in the peninsula in order to con- 
solidate the work of conquest, etc. His plans, however, were destined to failure. 
A gallant and chivalrous people could not and would not stand for the treachery 
of Bayonne. 

Napoleon called his elder brother from the throne of Naples, with the 
people of which he had become popular from the reforms he had enacted, and 
had him accept the Crown of Spain. 

Joseph was an enlightened ruler and had much of his brother's sagacity 
in dealing with factions, but now truly, he had come to face a condition of things 
he was unprepared to cope with. 

The natural pride of a brave and gallant people was outraged at a for- 
eigner being imposed upon them as a ruler in so arbitrary a manner. 

23— 



The disgraceful proceedings at Bayonne so exasperated the populace that 
a universal and immediate uprising took place throughout the peninsula. True 
to their Celtic blood, the Basque Provinces were the first to rise and bid defiance 
to the Frenchmen. 

That part of Spain which had defied the ancient Romans and the Moorish 
swarms came down from their mountain homes — Asturia, Galicia, Leon and 
Aragon declared war against the conqueror of Europe. The other provinces 
soon followed, and the country became ablaze with patriotic fervor to free the 
country from Napoleon's myrmidons. 

Great Britain was appealed to, and the extraordinary sight was presented 
of her becoming an immediate and active ally to the people of Spain instead of 
being a foe to the Bourbon Government. 

The indignation and resentment knew no bounds, in the universal acclaim, 
to rid the soil of the hated usuper. 

Guerilla bands were everywhere cutting oflf detachments of French troops, 
and the glorious event of Baylen created a sensation, where French troops had 
been thought to be invincible, destroyed this illusion and the hardy and brave 
sons of Northern Spain soon made the invader fear the strength of their courage. 




CHAPTER VI. 

THE INVINCIBLE WELLINGTON. 

HE GLORIOUS chance for Spain now presented itself to aid in her 
supreme effort to throw off the French yoke and gain her inde- 
pendence. 

The Invincible Wellington had landed in the peninsula with a 
small but select army of British veterans. He at once defeated the 
French army under Junot, and opened a way to organize the Iberian forces. 

The Peninsula was wild with excitement and patriotic resolves, but lacked 
organization ; but no General had greater ability to do this than Wellington. Al- 
though his discipline was severe, the confidence he inspired as the "Iron Duke" 
soon inspired the patriotic troops to gather under his command. 

The turn of affairs in the Peninsula and the consequent trouble it gave 
him, led Napoleon to say at St. Helena: "It was the Spanish ulcer which 
ruined me." 

He had now lost Spain and Portugal and the subsidies which they had 
so meekly paid him, and which had been to him of great use in prosecuting his 
continued wars. 

In this city in which we now are met rendered its name illustrious by the 
bravery of its inhabitants in the ever-memorable siege by the French. It has 

• —24 



had many sieges under the Romans, the Moors and the many troubles as Capital 
of the Kingdom of Aragon and subsequently, but nothing in its history gave it 
greater fame than this last defense of the brave citizens of Zaragoza. 

The stories of Baylen and Zaragoza gave infinite encouragement to the 
forces against Napoleon. 

The Sage, Jean Paul Richter, stated with glee: "Doubted not that the 
Germans would one day rise against the French as the Spaniards had done, and 
that Prussia would revenge its insults and give freedom to Germany." 

How thoroughly the prophesy was fulfilled. 

Napoleon made a tremendous effort to retain control of Spain for his 
brother, and in his short stay at Madrid, in trying to popularize his brother's rule, 
offered to the country several desirable reforms, among which was the abolition 
of the feudal laws and of the inquisition; this we must grant in the spirit of 
"giving the devil his due." 

I believe it is Tacitus, the Roman historian, who says: 

"In no land does the character of the people and the nature of the country 
help to repair disasters more readily than in Spain." 

And whilst the French Emperor thought he had conquered the Peninsula, 
no sooner had he crossed the Pyrenees than the country rose up at once and the 
brave mountaineers were again waving the flag of their country. 

Wellington's success, aided by the patriots, and even with 370,000 French 
troops to check the British leader, they failed to do so, and Wellington's prowess 
was heralded all over Europe and created a marked effect. 

The battle of Fuentes d' Onoro was fought by Wellington. 

One battle on the south frontier of Portugal by Lord Beresford, and the 
battle of Barossa by General Graham, in all of which the British were victorious, 
and the effect produced by these successes discouraged "Joseph so that he pro- 
posed to his brother his abdication of the Throne of Spain. 

In the beginning of January, 1812, Lord Wellington commenced the enter- 
prise of reducing Ciuded Rodriguez. It was intelligently conceived and bril- 
liantly executed. It had been greatly strengthened by the French, but before 
its fortifications had been improved by them, it had held out against Massena 
for over a month, although his army consisted of over 100,000 men. Badajoz 
had gone through the same experience, yet the strongholds were taken by storm. 

The two achievements produced consternation and capped the climax of 
the train of defeats of the French in 1812. 

Wellington had now made a great reputation as a successful commander, 
and Napoleon with his plans for a Russian campaign felt the time had come and 
proposed terms of peace to London on the basis of the statu quo. This did not 
suit the British Government, and Lord Castlereagh replied, that if the reign 
of King Joseph were meant by the phrase, "the dynasty actually reigning," he 
must answer explicitly, that England's engagemxCnts to Ferdinand and the Cortes 
presently governing Spain, rendering her acknowledging him impossible. 

Such loyalty did Britain show to the Spanish people, and contrasts so 
nobly with the unworthy, selfish and deceptive methods constantly used by the 
arch diplomatist of Europe, he did not answer Britain's retort. 




CHAPTER VII. 

APOLEON'S complications with the powers of Europe, and his or- 
ganization of the Continental System, in order to deprive Great 
Britain of her commerce with the Continent, now occupied his con- 
stant attention. He had become related to the ancient dynasty of 
the Hapsburgs, and he was at the zenith of his power, and outside 
of Spain, everything seemed to favor the new Charlemagne, as he then was 
called. It did seem that with all the great power he wielded, and armies of so 
many people he controlled, that there would be but a poor chance for Welling- 
ton and the Spanish patriots. 

But this British General pursued a cautious strategy with an army that 
was never large enough, although his seasoned troops he regarded, with their 
steady valor, as more than a match for that number of French. 

Whilst the French Emperor was on his fateful campaign into Russia, he 
received news of the crushing defeat of his favorite marshal, Marmont, on the 
plain of Salamanca. 

Wellington could have made his campaign more efficacious had it not been 
for the quarrels and jealousies in the Spanish forces, which at several critical 
occasions had destroyed his opportunities to take the French at a disadvantage. 

These independent bands, whilst they harrassed and annoyed the army, 
could not always be controlled by the British Commander when he needed them. 

It was wise and important that the Cortes conferred upon Wellington the 
command as Generalissimo of the Spanish forces, from acting in irregular and 
independent bands, with lack of cohesion to the British army and unable at all 
times to rely on them. By the time the battle of Vittoria had to be fought, he 
had welded these irregular forces into a fine army organization, and he testified 
highly as to the noble work the Spanish troops accomplished at this famous 
victory. 

It is one of the most remarkable circumstances in history that France, 
which had been drained of her best blood and treasure to equip a vast army of 
650,000 men for the Russian campaign, and had so often been compelled to make 
tremendous sacrifices, should still, after that terrible disaster and loss, sustain 
the Emperor to raise another army to meet the strong coalition made by the 
allied Governments, to crush the man who had proved himself the scourge of 
Europe. 

There was something wonderfully magnetic in his personality whilst 
evoking the pride of military glory by her wonderful achievements, yet he had 
brought France to the depth of distress and almost despair at this period of 
French history. With all the ability which he showed in organizing another 
army, to check the progress of the allied armies of Russia, Prussia, Sweden and 
Great Britain, which were in coalition to crush him, there was great discontent 
in the interior of France, and the press of which had tried to conceal from the 
Emperor, but the country was becoming exhausted with the constant drain on 
her resources, and military ambition ceased to be a panacea for every woe, or 
an allurement to make every sacrifice. 

• —26 



It is strange that Napoleon did not withdraw his armies from Spain to 
aid him in the impending struggle with the allies. Joseph still had 150,000 
troops, and now that Wellington had been largely reinforced, with his base of 
supplies at the northern ports, where he could be aided by the British Navy, he 
was at an advantage and he pushed his army forward with vigor and compassed 
Joseph at Vittoria, and which proved a most glorious victory for British as well 
as Spanish arms. 

This virtually sealed the fate of French occupation of Spain. 

The news of this great disaster to Napoleon gave much encouragement 
to the allies, and determined Austria, who had been hitherto trying to act as 
mediator, to join them actively against the French army. 

With all this, the Congress at Prague, and the dilatory tactics of the 
French Emperor, only showed that he meant to have time to organize and train 
his forces to keep Austria quiet, and attack Russia and Prussia consecutively, 
and regain his military prestige. 

The calamity of the utter route at Vittoria seemed to throw gloom on 
Napoleon's generals, and the French armies were beginning now to lose heart, 
and in the actions in North Germany were generally unsuccessful and discourag- 
ing. The change of Austria to an active ally to the coalition gave great encourage- 
ment to the British, Russian and Prussian governments, increased with the 
Swedes coming into the allies with an army of 35,000. Napoleon, therefore, be- 
came more tractable and disposed to treat; however, the allied operations forced 
him to the defensive, and the great battle of Leipsig was fought with its three 
days of carnage. The obstinacy of Napoleon at Leipsig and his signal defeat 
there terminated his battles for conquest, and his struggles from now on were 
to protect his own life and the imperial title of France. 

France soon called for his abdication. The sacrifices the country had made 
to support him in his inordinate ambition had gone beyond all reason. 

The allied armies who had been on the French frontiers and had mag- 
nanimously offered terms to France, made their approach towards Paris. 

The British army, which had chased Marshal Soult across the Pyrenees, 
continued on its march, and after some brilliant maneuvers gained another great 
victory at Orthiz. Soult's army being scattered to the winds. 

Bordeaux received the British army with acclamation, so much had the 
trend of public opinion changed latterly, and the white cockade was seen every- 
where and the enthusiastic cries of "Vive le Roi" showed how faithful this old 
stronghold of royalty was to its Princes. 

Meantime the conference at Chatillon was taken place for a treaty, and its 
provisions were being arranged. Napoleon, as usual, holding out pertinaceously 
for advantageous terms, and the treaty that his ministers had accepted he re- 
pudiated and continued his offensive tactics. 

His temporary successes at this time lost him the valuable opportunity 
of making a treaty which was most magnanimous to him and advantageous to 
France. Evidently the Emperor never intended to make peace at Chatillon. 

The allies continued their march towards Paris, their course contested 
most bitterly by Napoleon and his marshals. The capture of Paris followed. 

The proposition from Napoleon to treat now was absolutely rejected. 



27— 



After a council of the allies, it was considered that Napoleon had lost the esteem 
and confidence of the French Nation, and that the old legitimate rulers of France 
jhouid again be seated on the French Throne. 

The arraignment of Napoleon by the French Senate, which dethroned 
him, states the reasons clearly and definitely. 

A provisional government was formed by them. 

DECLARATION OF THE SENATE. 

"The conservative Senate, considering that in a constitutional monarchy, 
the monarch exists only in virtue of a social compact. That Napoleon Bona- 
parte's administration for sometime was firm and prudent, but that latterly he 
has violated his fundamental compact with the French people, especially by 
raising and levying taxes without the sanction of the law, in direct opposition 
to the oath which he took on ascending the Throne; that he committed that in- 
fraction of the liberties of the people when he had, without cause, prorogued the 
legislative and suppressed as criminal a report of that body, thereby contesting 
its title and share in the national representation ; that he has undertaken a series 
of wars of his own authority in violation of the law, which declared that they 
should be proposed, discussed and promulgated as laws; that he has illegally 
issued several decrees declaring the penalty of death, especially those of March 3 
last, tending to establish as natural a war which sprang only from his immediate 
ambition; that he has violated the laws of the Constitution by his decrees on 
state prisons; that he has annihilated the responsibilities of monarchs, con- 
founded all powers and destroyed the independence of the judiciary bodies ; that 
he has trampled under foot the liberty of the press by means of a corrupt and 
enslaved censorship, and made use of that powerful instrument only to deluge 
France with false maxims, doctrines favorable to despotism and outrages on 
foreign governments; that acts and reports of the Senate itself have undergone 
alteration previous to publication; that instead of reigning conformably to the 
interest, happiness and glory of the French Nation in terms of his oath. Napoleon 
has put the finishing stroke to the miseries of the country by refusing to treat 
v/ith the allies on terms which the nation required him to accept, and which did 
not compromise the honor of France; that by the abuse which he has made of 
the resources in men and money entrusted to him, he has effected the ruin of 
the terms, the depopulation of the country, and everywhere induced famine and 
contageous pestilence. Considering, in fine, that by all these causes the Imperial 
Government has ceased to exist and that the wishes of the French call for a 
state of things of which the first result may be the re-establishment of a general 
peace and the reunion of France with all the states of the great European family, 
the Senate declares and decrees as follows : 

1. Napoleon Bonaparte is cast down from the Throne and the right of 
succession is abolished. 

2-. The French people and army are absolved from their oath of fidelity 
to him. 

3. The present decrees shall be transmitted to the departments and armies 
and proclaimed immediately in all the quarters of the Capital. 

"MONITEUR, 5 April, 1814." 

• —28 



Such an arraignment as this by the highest legislative body of the French 
Nation, and to the fact of which all were conversant, was satisfactory to the 
people generally, who had now become entirely impatient at this constant drain 
of blood and treasure to gratify the ambition of one individual whose inordinate 
desires had brought the country to a condition of utter exhaustion. 

That the action of the Senate in dethroning Napoleon has been impugned 
by some as being illegal, and there is no doubt that this of course was to be 
expected from his partisans, it could be equally declared that Napoleon on first 
assuming despotic power on his return from Egypt, with all the glamour of a 
deity, cancelling the power of the Council of Five Hundred with his sword at 
the head of his grenadiers, was an unscrupulous mode of gaining power in a 
country which called itself free. 

As justification many v/ould point out the use that this power subse- 
quently achieved, viz, the bringing about of civil order and security, and 
especially the condition of personal liberty which the citizens enjoyed. That 
Napoleon should have elevated France by his military prowess from an humbled 
divided and disordered country about to be overrun by its powerful and despotic 
neighbors, to one of peerless power and strength, the master and dictator of the 
destinies of the Nations. 

His arbitrary action of assuming the imperial crown might therefore also 
be justified. 

The astonishing undertakings of the Emperor which formed a pyramid 
of such wonderful achievements as the world had never seen, the magic of his 
presence on nearly all occasions, even snatching victory from defeat, had charmed 
the fancy and mind of the French people and brought enough glory to them to 
cover a multitude of shortcomings and hardships. But the country was in a 
condition of absolute ruin and bankruptcy. No family but what was in mourning 
for their dead, and so the end of the great tragedy must come. 

The marshals surrounding Napoleon felt also the hour had come to recog- 
nize the will of the Senate and the inability of the army to continue successfully 
its operations. The Island of Elba had the honor of receiving the great Com- 
mander. 

A great mistake on the part of the allies, but the clemency was attributable 
to the Czar of Russia. 

The "hundred days" were not long delayed. 



CHAPTER VHI. 




NE WOULD have supposed that the Island of Elba would have 
afforded opportunities to Napoleon for thought and reflection, and 
to learn lessons of wisdom from his past experience, and brought 
about a change of mind and conduct. 

He had deluged the continent with blood to extend the limits 
of France and to carry out his continental system. He had impoverished the 
exchequer of France and increased the national debt of every nation on the 
Continent until the whole of Europe was tax-ridden to such a degree as almost 



29— 



to bring a sense of poverty to every home. With the misery and degradation 
that was apparent to him on every hand, it would have been natural to suppose 
that there certainly would be some compunctions of conscience in the wrong he 
had brought on mankind and in the cause of liberty and the principles of 
democracy. 

He threw the world back many years by his autocratic methods, his un- 
principled schemes and his bloodthirsty ambitions, to overcome his enemies in 
his thirst for power and military glory. 

The end justified any means, was his philosophy, and no scruples ever 
interfered with his unbridled desires. 

That in the quiet of the sea-girt Isle of Elba the opportunity was surely 
offered him of reflecting on the universal wreck and ruin he had brought to 
Europe and his own afflicted country. 

We learn something through the conversations he had with the British 
Envoy, Col. Sir Neil Campbell. 

He bitterly resented the loss of Belgium to France, as he had always con- 
ceived that Antwerp ought to be a great emporium of trade, such as London. 
He termed the Bourbon King Viceroy of England. 

He seemed to think the army was still with him outside of the higher 
officers, and notwithstanding the wrongs he had done to the cause of political 
freedom, a large majority of the French people were still fascinated by his 
memory. 

He did express himself, saying, "that he was wrong in not making peace 
at the Congress of Prague; that confidence in his own genius and that of his 
army led him astray." He expressed himself later that he had heard at Elba, as 
in a tomb, the verdict of posterity. 

But as can be easily seen in surveying his career, he did not stop to 
consider of the past, the better to plan for the future. 

What was daily passing was what interested him and his ever-active 
mind was still planning — conquest, glory, a world! 

The palliations he offered for some of the enormities he had committed 
during his career were such as the necessities of the cases required and justified 
in a plausible way to many of the distinguished visitors of rank who visited him 
at Elba, so that they might be given to the world. 

THE HUNDRED DAYS. 

His excuses subsequently given for leaving the island were plausible. 
The fact that the Bourbon Government at Paris failed to provide him with the 
allowance required of it by the allies, and necessitated his selling his property 
for necessities, was a very cogent reason. 

He feared attempt to assassinate him. 

Algerine pirates had threatened to capture him. 

He said he had information that the powers were about to transport him 
to St. Helena. 

So he resolved to again face the allies and conquer Europe. A halo 
of romance seemed to surround him, and his personal presence was irresistible 
in securing him followers. 

• —30 



The idol of his army, which no disasters seemed to dispel the illusion. 
The ancient Greeks, had he lived in their day, would have called him a deity. 

The history of the hundred days reads like a product of a wild imagina- 
tion, but it proved a most costly experience to the nations of Europe, who had 
again to face the problem of having to renew their gigantic efforts to again 
cage the unconquerable warrior. 

All these reasons certainly looked justifiable for his leaving Elba. 

Several other reasons had also encouraged Napoleon to return to France. 

But still he broke his word with the allies. 

The restoration of the Bourbons was not satisfactory to the soldiers, 
although it seemed pleasing to the people. 

The terms granted by the allies were certainly favorable to France. 

And the magnanimity and generosity that Great Britain displayed in the 
giving back to France islands and territory that she had taken from her during 
the wars, was a piece of magnanimity and unselfishness seldom encountered in 
history, and this in face of the fact that Napoleon had been the cause of increas- 
ing Britain's public debt 600 millions of pounds sterling. 

This action raised Great Britain high in the estimation of the Continental 
powers. 

From Napoleon's point of view, with the encouragement he received from 
France, it was not strange that he should make the effort of his life to regain 
his power and prestige. 

A temporary absence of the British cruisers gave him the opportunity. 

His march to Lyons and Paris in some places was an ovation. 

His superhuman efforts to organize and consolidate his army as well as 
to control the legislature. 

The retreat of the Bourbons from Paris reads like fiction. 

His determination to meet Wellington and his unbounded confidence that 
he could measure his strength with the Iron Duke successfully shows his in- 
vincible character. But he had now found his match. 

After all that has been said about the great battle of Waterloo, the most 
decisive in its consequences of any battle in the history of the world, there is 
this to say in Napoleon's own words. That "he, Wellington, was as great a 
General as he was, and had the advantage of having more prudence." 

A tribute which the world seemed to confirm. 

Wellington's army stood the shock of the repeated charges of his great 
cavalry and guards like an iron wall until their French strength was expended, 
and then Wellington charged with his reserves and put them into utter confusion 
and retreat. 

The Prussians came in at this lucky moment and the route became almost 
a massacre, for Blucher had much to be avenged for. 

Napoleon fled from the field. How much grander would his character 
have stood in history had be delivered up his sword on the field of battle. It 
would have given lustre to his finished career. But his never-failing confidence 
that "he who fights and runs away will live to fight another day" seemed to 
animate him. 

His army virtually disappeared. 



31- 



Grouchy's safe retreat from the Prussians encouraged him to form a 
nucleus, but Paris and his marshals again dictated his abdication, and the British 
in order that he should cease to be a pest to Europe, shipped him to the lonely 
Isle of St. Helena. 

At the beginning of his career as Emperor he did much to gain the 
confidence and admiration of the nation. His policy was moderate and liberal 
in the internal affairs of France, and with foreign nations he supported a dignity 
and importance that made him respected abroad. 

Had moderation prevailed instead of the lust of conquest which took 
possession of him, a dififerent history would have been written. 

His system of controlling the press and deceiving the people was only 
worthy of an unscrupulous dictator. Whenever French arms were unfortunate, 
he managed to conceal it from the people until he could give them some good 
news with it, and then always distorted. He had so completely prostituted the 
press that the public could know nothing only through his own bulletins, until 
the phrase, "lie like a bulletin," became a universal saying. 

His crimes he justified by the exigencies of State. His massacres in 
Syria, the murder of the Duke d' Enghien, and many other deplorable enormi- 
ties, were unjustifiable in any view and stains his memory forever. 

The unlimited extent of slaughter and desolation and human misery by 
his persistent wars caused him to be looked upon by the nations as a wild beast 
who had to be caged at all hazards. 



CHAPTER IX. 

LESSONS. 




HE TEACHINGS which this remarkable period give are many. 

We can look philosophically over the extraordinary events em- 
braced in it with very mingled reflections as to the good or damage 
which each exacted on the body politic and the progress of man- 
kind. 
As a product of the revolution, Napoleon's career as a servant of the 
Directory had performed his duties with signal ability, appealing to democratic 
principles which had given freedom to human thought and action. 

His military successes, however, soon inspired him with personal am- 
bitions which became uncontrollable and brought in its train many troubles and 
evils and the united enmity of European Governments, 

The Napoleonic era will stand conspicuous as the most extraordinary in 
human history, and future generations whilst reading the memorable wars of 
the Lacedemoneans and other Greeks, Caesar and Tacitus on the Roman and 
Carthage struggles, the Crusades and other memorable eras will stand aghast 
at the relation of the meteroic career of the greatest Captain of all times. 

There is one great and very special lesson that the Napoleonic wars teach 
us, and that is, that with all the fearful loss of human life, the terrible desolation 



and destruction of property, the misery produced amongst the people, it could 
all have been avoided had there been an International Court of Justice to which 
all questions of differences could have been referred for settlement by arbi- 
tration. 

It is true that with such a character as Napoleon, he might defy any 
International Court, but the united will of the world could not long be defied. 

We may illustrate this by the establishment lately of the Central American 
Court of Justice, which has no doubt been efficacious in maintaining peace con- 
ditions amongst these five republics which have been so often rent with civil 
strife and revolutions. 

In a statement that is made by the President of the Central American 
Peace Conference at Washington, he says: 

"The Central American Court of Justice, the first of its kind that will be 
established among nations, gives material form to the thought of eminent states- 
men and philanthropists who for a long time have been struggling to establish 
means in consonance with the tendencies of civilization for the settlement of 
international conflicts. Said court will be a permanent tribunal, which will 
proceed in the matters that are submitted to it for decision in accordance with 
the judicial rules of investigation observed by all the judicial tribunals of the 
civilized world, and shall decide impartially in accordance with the teaching of 
international law and with a view to a strict and scrupulous termination of 
the matter. 

"Arbitration as the means of settling international difficulties has been 
the ideal of modern diplomacy ; but for its realization in a manner that all people 
may accept it without reserve, it is indispensable to give it juridic character, which 
by the nature of its functions belong to it. 

"The Central American Republics, upon commencing a new life, relegating 
to oblivion past errors, persuaded as they are that the cardinal point in their 
compass ought to be the accomplishment of a positive and great prosperity, have 
sought in this new conception of arbitration the most powerful support of their 
desired tranquility, and in order to put it into practice agreed in Washington 
to establish the Central American Court of Justice. 

"To the end of constituting that high tribunal in such a manner that it 
may be the recipient of the most absolute confidence of those who are to bring 
to it the solution of their disagreements, it is necessary that the justices who 
compose it be men of recognized ability and integrity, and in that sense the con- 
vention provides that said justices shall be chosen from among the jurists who 
possess the qualifications which the laws of each country prescribe for the 
exercise of high judicial office and who enjoy the highest consideration, both 
because of their moral character and their professional ability." 

Organized, therefore, with such a personnel of irreproachable honor, free 
by reason of the character of the institution which has created it, there is no 
doubt but that the Central American Court of Justice will be as Article XIII 
says: "Representative of the national conscience of Central America, and that 
the people will have nothing to fear upon bringing their reciprocal differences 
to the final judgment of that conscience." (See Appendix A.) 

33— 



I believe that the high position which belong to the Central American 
Court of Justice cannot be presented more clearly. Its members being named 
by the legislative power of each country, they will owe their office to the national 
will, conveyed with implicit trust, and they will, therefore, enter upon the 
exercise of their lofty and humanitarian duties without political compromises 
that may influence their conduct and surrounded by the highest prerogatives 
which can be conferred on a citizen within our republican regime, since, as 
Article X says, on this same principle the International Court of the Hague can 
provide a solution for this great question of arbitration between nations of all 
differences. 

Much has been done in the past few years to bring about this desirable 
end and the great meeting in the interest of this movement held at Berlin this 
summer shows that it is accomplishing some happy results. 

I will quote from an admirable report on this question issued by the 
Lake Mohonk Conference on International Arbitration. 

"International arbitration is neither novel nor impractical. In a narrow 
sense, it means the submission by two or more nations of a difference to be 
determined by a disinterested party, usually a prominent individual, sometimes 
a number of individuals. In this simple form, arbitration settled no less than 
198 international disputes during the nineteenth century, a number now in- 
creased to more than 240. The average during the past twenty years has been 
about six cases a year. The United States has been a party to more than 60 cases, 
Great Britain to more than 70, and thirty-five other nations have been parties 
to arbitrations. The Alabama Claims dispute between the United States and 
Great Britain is a well-known example of the class of cases so disposed of. 

"Since the first Hague Conference in 1888, the term international arbitra- 
tion has been more broadly construed to include the work of 'mixed commis- 
sions' and 'commissions of inquiry' as well as the development of international 
law expressed in international tribunals and courts. 

"Notable achievements under these heads were the settlement of the 
Alaskan boundary question by a mixed commission, and of the North Sea 
(Dogger Bank) incident by a commission of inquiry. 

"The first Hague Conference framed the great Convention for the Peace- 
ful Adjustment of International Differences and created the Hague Tribunal, 
a panel from which arbitrators may be drawn for particular cases. This tri- 
bunal has determined four international controversies, and the United States 
and Great Britain are about to refer to it the long-standing Newfoundland 
Fisheries dispute. 

"The second Hague Conference in 1907, despite current impressions to 
the contrary, measured a great advance. It was the first time in history that 
representatives of practically all nations had met to consider the maintenance 
of peace — for only twenty-six nations had participated in the first conference. 
It unanimously declared that henceforth no nation may use force to collect 
debts from another nation without first offering to arbitrate. It provided, also 
unanimously, for an international court of prize, to which recourse may be had 
from decisions of national courts. It revised and improved the Hague Con- 
vention of 1899, gave greater power to commissions of inquiry and provided 

• —34 



that either of two differing nations may publicly ask that the difference be re- 
ferred to the Hague Tribunal. It practically made itself a periodic body by 
resolving that a third conference should be held at or about 1915. And as, 
perhaps, its greatest service, it prepared and adapted a complete plan for the 
organization and procedure of a real international court of justice to supple- 
ment the Hague Tribunal. It did not determine a method for apportioning the 
judges in the court but left the matter in such form that two or more nations 
(no number being specified) may on their own initiative set the court in opera- 
tion by simply appointing judges, other nations being free to join in the same 
way, whenever so disposed. Secretary Root is quoted as being confident that 
through ordinary diplomatic channels the international court, the dream of man- 
kind for ages, will be a reality before the third Hague Conference. While the 
Hague Conference did not adopt a general treaty of arbitration, it unanimously 
indorsed the principle, and thirty-five of forty-four nations were ready to 
negotiate such a treaty. 

"It is significant that prior to the close of the second Hague Conference 
treaties or arbitration between different nations had been negotiated to the 
number of 54, and that since the Conference the United States has negotiated 
and the Senate has ratified similar treaties with 12 leading powers, to which 
it is reported treaties with Germany and with China will soon be added. While 
most of these treaties exclude questions affecting 'national honor' they never- 
theless cover a broad field. This exception of 'national honor' will probably 
not be entirely eliminated until a public sentiment, based on the actual achieve- 
ments of arbitration shall have been created strong enough to assure just treat- 
ment of such questions by an international court." 

In this world's great altruistic movement for the betterment of the human 
family, I trust that it is in the purview of this great Inernational Congress, 
celebrating as it does an important era in Spain's history, to take some action 
and give some recognition to a movement whose success will preclude the pos- 
sibility of a recurrence of the terrible experience through which the country 
passed 100 years ago, a movement that is destined to completely metamorphose 
international conditions and bring more happiness and contentment to the human 
family and this Centennial as a milestone to mark Spain's progress and happier 
conditions by the return of another century will congratulate herself that she 
was one of the nations who led in the thought of the world that nations should 
follow the example of individuals, to settle their disputes before a court of jus- 
tice instead of by the sword. 

Spain, with her illustrious past, will yet again make glorious history in 
the advancing progress of the world, and may be a power for good that will 
be felt again as one of the first of the Nations. 

Her enlightened Statesmen, freed from the trammels of the strong re- 
actionary influences that surround them, will steer her into a high and noble 
destiny with purposes wisely directed for the education and happiness of her 
chivalrous children, will yet mark for her an era of greatness. And the noble 
aspirations of her youthful and sagacious constitutional Monarch, guided by 
the wisdom and council of his charming Queen, will make for the glory of the 
country and what her name stands for — VICTORIA! 

35— 



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